10/06/2006
NEWS STORY
Racing Engineering - Adam Carroll (3rd) Javier Villa (DNF)
Adam Carroll brought home Racing Engineering's second podium finish of the year in race one at Silverstone despite a fire in his car just minutes before the race, which caused his mechanics a few last minute heart palpitations on the grid as they pulled out all the stops to get his car back in shape to race.
The pre race distraction didn't seem to phase Adam, who had a strong start from pole position as the lights went out. Unfortunately fellow front row starter Lewis Hamilton was slightly stronger, and a spirited battle over the first few corners was resolved in favour of the latter. Despite the setback Adam kept pushing hard from second position, and was easily able to control the pace of his pursuers at his home circuit. With tyre wear at a premium under the extremely hot conditions the team elected to keep him out a little longer that those behind and, despite an extremely quick stop, Timo Glock just managed to sneak past in the stops, pushing Adam down to third, where he finished.
Javier Villa, starting in nineteenth on his debut at the track, had a brilliant start to move up to twelfth but the end of the first lap. Unfortunately he had also had a return of yesterday's oversteer but nonetheless held onto the position for as long as he could, with a late stop for a second set of tyres pushing Javi back slightly to fourteenth.
Team principal Alfonso de Orleans reflected on the bittersweet nature of the race, stating: We had a bit of a scare on the starting grid because of Adam's fire, and we found out that it was thermal protection in one of the sidepods: we still have to see why that happened, because according to the mechanics it's not something that we install. Adam had a good start but got a little wheel spin, and Lewis was just a little bit quicker off the line and got past. Adam and Lewis were having a pretty good race, and we had a really blinding tyre change, but somehow Timo got past in the pits and we were third. Javi had a really great start but he didn't feel that he had the car to fight for better positions. It's a shame today because I think we should have had a second place, if not a win; I don't think we did anything wrong, but that's racing, and we'll concentrate now on tomorrow."
Reflecting on his podium finish after the race, Adam Carroll noted: It was good to get another podium, but a little frustrating to start first and finish third. Still, it was a good race, and to come away with more points is always good. It was extremely hot here, nearly the hottest race we've had, and I think it showed we just have to work on the tyre set up a little bit for that. So now we will go to the test at Paul Ricard and try to improve a bit more, and we'll be there."
Sitting behind the pits to cool down after a hot race, Javier Villa said: The race was really difficult today, because the car was really nervous with oversteer. I had a good start and went from 19th to 12th, and the safety car came at a good time to change the tyres. After that I just tried to push but I was really struggling, so I had to change the tyres again later. I think we need to make a few changes for tomorrow, because I was too far off Adam's pace today."
Piquet Sports - Nelson Piquet (4th)
Nelson Piquet Jr finished today's 36-lap GP2 feature race in fourth position. It was a tough day for the Brazilian who is suffering from a draining virus and high fever, but he maintained a good race pace and scored five championship points, and will now line up in fifth position on the grid for tomorrow's GP2 sprint race at the Silverstone track.
There were three safety car periods in today's race, from which Nelson began in fourth place. The final top four of Lewis Hamilton, Timo Glock, Adam Carroll and Nelson pulled away after each safety car and were considerably faster than the rest of the field. At the chequered flag, Nelson was nose to tail with Carroll, but ran out of laps to improve on his fourth place finish.
Tomorrow's 24-lap lap race will begin at a slightly earlier time than usual at 9.30am. Nelson will line up in fifth position behind Felix Porteiro, who starts on pole after finishing eighth today. Second on the grid will be Clivio Piccione followed by Alex Premat and Giorgio Pantano.
Nelson Piquet Jr: "I did a really good start but so did everybody else. Everyone started the race so well. I caught Premat but I was a bit afraid of going wide, then Premat closed on me and Glock got past and I was fifth. Alex got a drive through later on and we went to fourth, which is where we finished. We did the pitstop fairly early but our strategy didn't go quite to plan, if we had done something a little bit different we could have gained a position that way. We had a real problem with the rear tyres, and the car was not as good as it was in qualifying. I got some points and I will go for some more tomorrow. I think the start of tomorrow's race might be a bit of a mess, but I will try hard and my aim is to do another good start, fight hard in the race and get a podium."
DPR Direxiv - Clivio Piccione (7th) Mike Conway (11th)
After an incident-filled race at Silverstone today, both DPR Direxiv drivers, Clivio Piccione and Mike Conway (right), can look forward to the weekend's second, sprint race with a good deal of anticipation. Piccione's 7th place finish secured him a front row start for tomorrow, while Conway – making his GP2 debut – drove a solid and capable race to 11th.
Team Principal David Price was in a buoyant mood: "I'm very happy and we're starting in the right place tomorrow with Clivio's front row. Mike will be in the middle of the pack but that's not a bad result at all for his first GP2 race. After his stall at the start, he kept his nose clean and made the most of the safety car periods to close up to the pack. You have to take your luck when it comes in this game and we reckon we're due some. We won here last year after having had a fairly dreadful few races so perhaps Silverstone will be good to us again."
Piccione, the 22-year-old from Monaco, was also a happy man, despite having struggled with a few technical problems during the race. "It was a tough race for me but I'm obviously happy with the front row start tomorrow and for sure I'm aiming for a win. I had some gearbox problems from the start which, combined with a long pedal at a couple of braking points and the generally very windy conditions, made it tough. We're going to look at the data to see what caused the problems, have a think about the set up, and we should be good for tomorrow. My plan is, of course, to get into the lead and pull out as big a gap as possible!"
Current British F3 Championship leader Mike Conway was delighted to have brought his car home to the chequered flag. "I'm happy enough, although my stall at the start was a bit of pain! I think I held the clutch a bit too long; I'd done okay when I'd practiced earlier, but not this time. I had the pace during the race which was good, and I'm now getting used to how to handle the cars, and the tyre wear. Doing a pit stop was fun, and I had a good pull away from there. We'll now look at the data and see how I can improve for tomorrow. I had fun today and I'm looking forward to it."
Durango - Sergio Hernandez (10th) Lucas Di Grassi (DNF)
After a good qualifying session on Saturday that made Durango see its brazilian driver in position 7th in the grid, Lucas was making a good race until his rear wing flew away, maybe because of a little touch with another car. Both Lucas and the team were certain to get the 5th position in today race.
Great starting as always for Hernandez who jumped from 21th position to 18th. After few laps he was already 14th. He made a good race partly compromised by a little crash caused by Filippi, who hit Sergio from the back. Without this crash he could end race 1 in 8th.
Lucas Di Grassi: I was driving a good race, I felt that the 5th position was quite mine. The loss of the rear wing prevented me from gaining those points.
Sergio Hernandez: Good race and good feeling with the car. I'm really sorry about that crash with Filippi because I lost those two positions that gave me the chance to end 8th today and to start 1st tomorrow.
Super Nova International - Fairuz Fauzy (12th) Jose Maria Lopez (DNF)
Today's race in Silverstone unfortunately ended abruptly for Super Nova's driver Jose Maria Lopez. After a great start passing two cars from his 18th grid position, he was hit from behind, causing little damage but the car stalled, and so his race was ended on lap one. Fairuz Fauzy & the team made a speedy pit stop on lap three & with some good sector times, he managed to move up crossing the finish line after 36 laps in 12th place, his best ever result on a Saturday!
It was an exciting race disrupted by safety cars, positions continuosly swapping, the two British front row drivers eager for a home win! ART's driver Mr. Hamilton succeeded in taking pole as well as fastest lap, pushing him further ahead in the Championship. Timo Glock driving for iSport followed in 2nd & Adam Carroll in 3rd to take a home race podium finish.
Team Principal - David Sears: "It has been another unsatisfactory day for the Super Nova & Jose Maria Lopez. Unfortunately he could not even complete one full lap before being hit ending his race short. Fairuz Fauzy did well to work his way up to 12th position from 23rd…just a couple of positions and we'd be in the points - something we must work hard on to achieve in the coming races."
Jose Maria Lopez: "It's a disappointing day…I made a good start but was hit from behind on my opening lap and as the marshals could not restart the car, that was it for me. Tomorrows race will be tough, but hopefully the test at Paul Ricard before Magny Cours will help us get to the front."
Fairuz Fauzy: "This is my best Saturday finish, despite starting 23rd and a spin on lap one, when I was fighting for 14th position with Jani. The car was very good in the first half of the race, the team did a great good rebuilding it overnight, but I started to lose pace after the safety cars. I'm looking forward to tomorrow and I think having an early morning race will help on temperature."
Trident Racing - Andreas Zuber (DNF) Gimmi Bruni (DNF)
Nice race but not finished
The good race of both Triden Racing drivers came to an end because of mechanical failures. At half race, Gimmi Bruni was fifth when the gearbox starting to failure loosing the fourth gear. Gimmi got on for another ten laps till his gearbox lost all the speeds. So Andreas Zuber became fifth e made a show in a dogfight with Giorgio Pantano. But his beautiful fight has been ruined by the on board extinguisher, who started by itself flooding Andi with its liquid. The liquid finished even on Andi's visor obsuring his view and forcing him out of track.
Gimmi Bruni: "While I was fifth I lost the fourth gear. I went on but six laps later even the third was gone. Four laps after I had to stop because I remained with no speeds at all. What could I say? I am happy because the first part of the championship is over. The next tests at Le Castellet will be very good to put together again all the things and be alright again for the second part of the season."
Andreas Zuber: "I was fifth. I was doing a great battle with Giorgio. I demonstrated I can manage an hard dogfight keeping the position with fairplay. Then, all of a sudden with five laps to go, the fire extinguisher started by itself and I got my visor obscured by the liquid. It was impossible to see the track anymore and so I spun. I would really like to swear but… patience."
DAMS - Ferdinando Monfardini (DNF) Franck Perera (DNF)
Ferdinando Monfardini is staying under medical observation tonight after his crash in today’s race. The medical staff did not mention any major problem but preferred to keep him as a precaution and asked him to withdraw from tomorrow’s sprint race. Monfardini was on his way to score more points as he entered in the top 8 at mid distance of today’s long race when he lots control of the car and hit the wall.
Franck Perera did not have any chance to race for points today after he took a perfect start but was hit by another car and retired on the first corner of the race.